Henry VII

• Lambert Simnel

  • Impersonated Earl of Warwick (in tower)

  • May 1487 - Crowned as King Edward of Ireland

  • Margaret of Burgundy paid for a force of 2,000 mercenaries

  • Battle of Stoke Field 1487

    • John De la Pole killed + Simnel captured

    • Decisive victory established Henry’s legitimacy through the battlefield

    • Arguably the battle that ended the war of the roses

  • Overall - a significant challenge to the new king, but not a true threat to his position due to the lack of grass-roots support for the imposter. If this had been present, then it is likely that the attack in yorkist heartlands could have posed a much more substantial threat to Henry VII.

• Perkin Warbeck

  • 1492 - Treaty of Etaples (Charles VIII withdraws support from Warbeck)

    Flees to Margaret of Burgundy (trained as a prince)

  • 1495 - Warbeck lands in Kent and is quickly defeated

    • Sir William Stanley arrested - Lord Chamberlain + head of royal household = substantial threat

    • Flees to the court of James IV

  • 1496 - Small invasion force failed

  • 1497 - captured at Cornish rebellion

  • Overall - Perkin Warbeck posed a highly important threat to the throne, due to the combination of foreign backing from the great european powers (and dangerous inside support from SWS) and while he was not able to generate much personal support amongst the peasantry, he had a powerful ability to play on existing social movements (eg. Yorkshire) to achieve his goals.

• Yorkshire Rebellion

• Cornish Rebellion

Henry VIII

• Amicable Grant

  • Followed 1523 failed tudor subsidy (which many were still recovering from/had only just paid)

  • Cost of 1st Second French War =

• Silken Rebellion

  • 1534 Earl of Kildare dismissed

• Pilgrimage of Grace

Mid Tudors

• Religion

  • Kett's rebellion was motivated by a lack of preaching in highly protestant Kent.

  • Wyatt’s rebellion was fearful of a catholic king, or Spanish invasion. The rebels were based in Kent close to the channel, and only 22 miles away from catholic Burgundy.

• Social

  • Religious changes such as the dissolution of the monasteries (1539) and the Chantries Act (1549) also removed confraternities.

    • Rising population

• Economic

  • The debasement of the coinage

  • Inflation

    • Poor harvests in 1556 and 1558 worsened the crisis

  • 1549 sheep tax = Western rebellion

• Political

  • Local mismanagement

    • Henry Courtenay joined the rebels in Cornwall

    • Coup of Somerset 1549 (replaced by the privy council for Northumberland)

  • Dynastic

    • Northumberland Rising 1553 (Lady Jane Grey on the throne for 9 days)

    • This was the main cause of the Wyatt rebellion which aimed to place Elizabeth on the throne replacing Mary

      • Led by prominent courtiers such as the Earl of Devon and the Duke of Suffolk